Murray still in the booth to start the eighth, but Strasburg is taken down for a pinch hitter. Dempster still looks good, but Baker gave the Nats an out by misplaying a ground ball into a hit. I really do not like Baker in the field, especially at first base. After striking out Espinosa, Sveum makes his first move and replaces Dempster with Wood. I have to say I agree with this. Dempster at 108 pitches. Zimmerman has hit Dempster hard all day, though I rather mistrust Wood coming in mid-inning. Desmond steals a base on Kerry Wood, who then starts nibbling and walks Zimmerman. Oh-oh, wild pitch. Wood is struggling, walks LaRoche. Maybe it wasn't such a hot idea to replace Dempster after all.
Wood doesn't seem to be able to close the door, gets ahead but can't make an out pitch. I've seen this act before and usually it doesn't end well. Sveum is being pretty rigid here. When Wood is like this, it means trouble. Fortunately, Barney makes a really good play on a grounder up the middle to save the day.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Live blog: Opening Day 6
Top of the seventh. Dempster is cruising along. Next inning may be the test as he is closing in on 90 pitches.
Bottom of the seventh. I may have to mute the TV sound. The insufferable Bill Murray is singing the stretch, which means he will chatter on through any exciting plays that may occur in the bottom half of the inning.
Lots of times on days like this, the game will break down to outs the other team gives you. The Cubs gave the Nats an out early in the game, but it didn't matter. The Cubs got an out from the Nationals later and turned it into a run. The Cubs got another break to start this inning when Desmond played a tough chance into a hit that should have been called an error. Byrd, however, promptly hit into a double play.
Bottom of the seventh. I may have to mute the TV sound. The insufferable Bill Murray is singing the stretch, which means he will chatter on through any exciting plays that may occur in the bottom half of the inning.
Lots of times on days like this, the game will break down to outs the other team gives you. The Cubs gave the Nats an out early in the game, but it didn't matter. The Cubs got an out from the Nationals later and turned it into a run. The Cubs got another break to start this inning when Desmond played a tough chance into a hit that should have been called an error. Byrd, however, promptly hit into a double play.
Live Blog: Opening Day 5
Top of the fifth. Dempster has an easy inning and actually gets the first two guys in the Nats order out.
Bottom of the fifth. Nothing doing, three up and three down. Curiously, the Cubs are not striking out much against Strasburg, who is a strikeout pitcher.
Top of the sixth. Ryan Zimmerman must be feeling bad, having hit two likely homers that came down well inside the park. Dempster continued to dominate LaRoche and Werth. I notice Gorzelanny is warming up. I wonder if Strasburg is on a pitch count, although so far he has thrown only 60.
Bottom of the sixth. Strasburg still in there. Nothing doing for the Cubs including a couple of whiffs.
Bottom of the fifth. Nothing doing, three up and three down. Curiously, the Cubs are not striking out much against Strasburg, who is a strikeout pitcher.
Top of the sixth. Ryan Zimmerman must be feeling bad, having hit two likely homers that came down well inside the park. Dempster continued to dominate LaRoche and Werth. I notice Gorzelanny is warming up. I wonder if Strasburg is on a pitch count, although so far he has thrown only 60.
Bottom of the sixth. Strasburg still in there. Nothing doing for the Cubs including a couple of whiffs.
Live Blog: Opening Day 4
Dempster sure can dominate crappy players at the bottom of the order, so he gets a nice easy inning here.
Cubs get lucky after Soriano's single. Stewart, who is not having a good day, hit the ball all of two feet for the second time, but the catcher made an ill-advised bad throw to second that went into CF. Balanced, unfortunately, by a really dumb steal attempt by Soriano. Caught stealing, naturally. Baker walks, Byrd singles home a run. Could have been a bigger inning, but at least they are on the board.
Cubs get lucky after Soriano's single. Stewart, who is not having a good day, hit the ball all of two feet for the second time, but the catcher made an ill-advised bad throw to second that went into CF. Balanced, unfortunately, by a really dumb steal attempt by Soriano. Caught stealing, naturally. Baker walks, Byrd singles home a run. Could have been a bigger inning, but at least they are on the board.
Live Bog: Opening Day 3
Dempster looked a lot better this inning against the bottom part of the order. Three quick outs.
Eight pitch inning. Baker hit the first pitch hard. Byrd struck out on four pitches. Not much doing here, is there?
Top of the third. First error of the season for Stewart who just plain muffed a routine ground ball. Dempster does not seem the same pitcher from the stretch so far. Walked Espinosa again, then Zimmerman to load the bases. Came back to get out of it. Dempster is getting squeezed a little by the plate ump, but to me he was on the point of having a typical meltdown inning until Werth bailed him out by swinging for the fences.
Bottom of the third. Dempster is the only guy so far to work the count even though he grounded out, he saw five pitches. DeJesus gets a hit, but Barney grounds out to end the inning.
Eight pitch inning. Baker hit the first pitch hard. Byrd struck out on four pitches. Not much doing here, is there?
Top of the third. First error of the season for Stewart who just plain muffed a routine ground ball. Dempster does not seem the same pitcher from the stretch so far. Walked Espinosa again, then Zimmerman to load the bases. Came back to get out of it. Dempster is getting squeezed a little by the plate ump, but to me he was on the point of having a typical meltdown inning until Werth bailed him out by swinging for the fences.
Bottom of the third. Dempster is the only guy so far to work the count even though he grounded out, he saw five pitches. DeJesus gets a hit, but Barney grounds out to end the inning.
Live Blog: Opening Day 2
So far Dempster has nothing. Doesn't seem to have control of his breaking stuff. Single and a walk. Then he started throwing fastballs to Zimmerman. Got one up in the zone to induce a long fly to CF that would have been a homer or a double on an ordinary day. Came back nicely to strike out LaRoche and get an easy fly to RF to end the inning. Dempster threw a lot of pitches that inning and didn't seem right, but no damage done.
Could be a long day. Three pitches, two outs. Then Castro hit an easy popup on the second pitch that mysteriously fell right next to the mound. Soriano hit a long fly on the second pitch to end the inning. Nothing is going to carry today. These guys need to stop swinging at pitcher's pitches.
Could be a long day. Three pitches, two outs. Then Castro hit an easy popup on the second pitch that mysteriously fell right next to the mound. Soriano hit a long fly on the second pitch to end the inning. Nothing is going to carry today. These guys need to stop swinging at pitcher's pitches.
Live Blog: Opening Day 1
Just tuned in to see Bill Murray jog around the bases wheezing most of the way. Got to say he is not my favorite professional Cubs fan. Really hammed it up. Hope this is not a precursor of things to come.
Looks like the wind is howling in from CF. That's got to help Dempster. Neither of these teams are built to score runs, so this should be a low scoring affair unless Dempster is wild.
Disappointing to see Baker at 1B. Guess LaHair's back is still bothering him.
Looks like the wind is howling in from CF. That's got to help Dempster. Neither of these teams are built to score runs, so this should be a low scoring affair unless Dempster is wild.
Disappointing to see Baker at 1B. Guess LaHair's back is still bothering him.
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